Environmental exposure and health effects in a highly polluted area of Northern Italy: a narrative review

Human health and well-being are strongly linked to the state of the environment. The high industrial pressure present in the Province of Brescia, located in Northern Italy, produced strong environmental and health concerns. This narrative review of the literature aims at identifying the studies focused on the association between exposure to environmental pollutants and health effects in the population living in this area. Thirteen papers fitted the inclusion criteria: five were focused on the connection among pollutants present in air matrix and health effects, seven on both air and soil, and one on soil. No study investigated the relationship with water pollution. The great variability in the analyzed end-points made it difficult to draw precise conclusions, but the fact that, in almost all the studies, the investigated health effects have a positive association with the exposure to different kinds of pollutants, allows us to hypothesize that the considered population is living in an area where the “environmental pressure” could produce significant health effects in the future.